Speed-controller.



T. E: CLARK & M. H. HOVEY.

SPEED CONTROLLER. APPLICATION FILED DEC- 22. I915- RENEWED DEC- EL 1918-1,292,?8. Patented Jan. 28, 1919.

Z SHEETSSHEET l.

INVENTORS 5 wammmvyn ws- J22 H W Mi TORNEYS T. E CLARK & M. H. HOVEY.

SPEED CONTROLLEK APPLICATION FILED DEc.22, I916. RENEWED DEC. 9. 1918.

1,292,708. Patented Jan. 28,1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

INVENTORS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS E. CLARK, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, AND MARK H. HOVEY, OF MADISON,WISCONSIN, ASSIGNORS TO HARRY W. BEGGS, OF VINCENNES, INDIANA.

SPEED-CONTROLLER.

Patented Jan. 28, 1919.

Application filed December 22, 1916, Serial No. 138,343. RenewedDecember 9, 1918. Serial No. 266,020.

States, and residents of Detroit, in the county of \Vayne and State ofMichigan, and Madison, in the county of Dane and State of Wisconsin,respectively, have in-.

vented a new and Improved Speed-Controller, of which the following is aspecification.

This mechanism relates to ineans for preventing locomotives and othervehicles from exceeding any selected one of a number of predeterminedspeeds, and the object of this inventionis to provide a readilyadjustable device which may indicate the highest selected speed at whichthe vehicle may travel and which will cause the application of airbrakes when such speed is exceeded.

This invention is designed to control the speeds of railway vehicles andconsists, in.

connection with any desired type of speed measurer which is providedwith a member that moves through equal distances for equal increments inthe speed of the vehicle, of a multiple-contact switch operated thereby,an indicator which may be manually positioned to designate the maximumspeed permitted the wheel or may be positioned to render the entirecontrol mechanism inoperative, and a series of circuits connectingrespectively to a current source, to a valve in the air brake systemnormally held closed by an electromagnet, to the multiple contact switchand to the indicator, whereby the valve will be kept closed until theselected speed has been exceeded.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram showing this newspeed controller installed for operation. Fig. 2 is a front elevation ofthe indicator. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 isa section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a plan of the multipleswitch. Fig. 6 1s a front elevation and Fig. 7 a right side elevation ofthis multiple switch.

Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the severalviews.

The speed controller shown in the drawings will be set by somesupervising oflicial to limit the speed at which the engineer may runhis locomotive or other motor vehicle. A speed measurer 5 which may beof any desired construction, of which that shown by the Boyer Patent No.356,916, dated Febru-- ary 1, 1887, is a good example, will be employedto shift the bar 6 up and down. This a bar is mounted on a pin 7 carriedby an insulated carriage 8 that is moved up and down by the instrument 5according to the speed of the vehicle. The pin 7 extends through a slot9 in the plate 10.

Carried by the bar 6 are a series of contacts 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 and 18adapted to engage the contact bars 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24,respectively, which bars are embedded 1n the plate 10 so that theirsurfaces are flush with the plate. The contacts on the bar 6 may be ofany desired construction. In Fig. 5, one of them is shown in detail toconsist of a sleeve 26 having a headed contact point 25 pressed againstits contact bar by means of a spring 27. A screw 28 tensions the springand a jam-nut 29 prevents the screw from turning. The sleeve is held inposition by means of a set-screw 30.

The plate 10 carries a series of binding posts 32 which connect to theirrespective contact bars by means of Wires 33. Circuit wlres 34, 35, 36,37, 38 and 39 connect to these binding posts while a circuit wire 40connects to the post 15 carried by the bar 6. The wires 34 to 39 may beconsidered as connected directly to the bars 19 to 24, respectively. Thebar 6 is normally at the bottom of the contact bars 19 to 24 and'risesas the speed increases, thereby opening the circuits between the wire 40and the wires 39 to 34 inclusive consecutively.

The indicator shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 consists of a disk 45 ofinsulating material mounted in a cylinder 46 which has one end closed bymeans of the glass plate 48 having a hole 47 through which a key may beinserted, and the opposite end reinforced by means of a ring 49. Posts50and screws 51 secure the disk 45 and rin 49 together. This disk 45carries a series 0 binding posts 54 to 59 inclusive to which the wires34 to 39 inclusive connect and the post 60 to which the wire 40connects. A wire 62 connects the wire 40 to the battery 63 and a wire 64connects the battery to a switch 65 which closes the circuit to the wire66 and valve 67 so long as the train pipe system is supplied with airunder pressure. When the vehicle is not in use and has no air pressure,the piston 68 will fall and cut out the battery. A wire 69 extends fromthe valve 67 to the post 70 which is mounted on a metal disk 72 on theinsulated disk 45 of the indicator. The valve 67 is of any desiredconstruction and releases the pressure of the air in the equalizer tankof the brake system when opened but is kept closed when current passesover the Wires 6669.

The shaft 73 of the indicator carries a spring 74 that causes the collar75 to press against the disk 72. On the front end of the shaft is a nut76, a slitted segment 77 of resilient metal and a hand 78. A series ofcontacts 79 extend through the insulation 45 into the path of thesegment 77 and connect at their rear ends to the posts 54 to 60inclusive by means of the small plates 80 shown in Fig. 4. The front endof the shaft 73 is formed to receive a proper key whereby it may beturned.

This device operates as follows: On the face of the disk 45, preferablyat the ends of the posts 54 to 60 inclusive, are characters of anydesired type, such as l 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Off and No control. When the hand'78 points to No control, the segment 77 bridges the gap between thepost 60 and wire and the post 70 and wire 69. This will result in thecurrent passing directly at all times from the battery 63 to the valve67 and the engineer may then drive the locomotive at any desired speed.When the pointer is turned to point Off, the circuit to the valve isbroken and the valve remains open at all times.

When the hand 78 is set for the particular speed indicated by thecharacter 4 on the disk 45, the wires 36, 37, 38 and 39, their posts 56,57, 58 and 59, and the contacts 79 connected to these posts will be incircuit with the slitted segment 77, plate 72, post 70 and wire 69' tothe valve 67. Current will flow to each of the bars 21, 22, 23 and 24,and so long as the predetermined speed is not exceeded, will flow by wayof the contact points 25, bar 6 and wires 40and 62, battery 63, wire 64,switch 65, wire 66 to the valve 67, holding the valve closed. Thiscondition exists so long asthe point 25 contacts with the bar 21, butwhen the speed of the vehicle becomes so great that the bar 6 is liftedby the instrument 5.until the circuit to the wire 36 is broken, that is,until the post 14 has been elevated above the bar 21, when the valve 67will open and brakes will be applied. 3

It will be noticed in Fig. '2 that no matter aeeap'oe to which of thecharacters on the dial the hand 78 is pointing, the slitted member-77engages with the contact post 79 under the hand and with all thecontacts to the left thereof. The width of the segment 77 may, however,be reduced if desired, but it should always be wide enough to bridgebetween adjacent contacts 79,.

The engineer is always in full control and may vary the speed of thevehicle up to the predetermined limit unless the hand 7 8 points to Nocontrol, when there is no limit and the valve 67 is kept closed so longas pressure exists in the air brake system.

We claim:

1. In a speed controller for vehicles, the combination of an indicatorcomprising a disk of insulating material and a contact member revolublymounted thereon and con- ;sisting of a slitted segment of resilientmetal,

a shaft revoluble in said disk and supporting the segment, a series ofcontact posts mount ed in said disk with which said segmentmay engage,and electric circuits connecting to said segment and said contacts.

2. In a speed controller for vehicles, the combination of an indicatorcomprising a disk of insulating material and a contact member revolublymounted thereon and consisting of a slitted segment of resilient metal,a shaft revoluble in said disk and supporting the segment, a series ofcontact posts mounted insaid disk with which said segment may engage, aseries of binding posts mounted on said disk, a connector between one ofthe binding posts and said shaft, and a connector between each of theother binding posts and a. contact post.

8. In a speed controller for vehicles, the combination of an indicatorcomprising a cylindrical shell and a transparent end therefor, asupporting disk mounted in the shell, a series of binding posts andstationary cfontac-ts extending from opposite sides of the disk, meansto connect each post to a contact, a shaft mounted concentrically withinthe disk, a resilient contact member carried thereby on the side of thedisk opposite said binding posts, and a spring on the shaft to force theresilient contact member into cngagement with the (1181! and stationarycontacts.

THOMAS E. CLARK. MARK H. HOVEY.

